


Uzumaki Naruto: Patriarch of Ash

by AlexTheRoyal



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-03-31 00:23:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19038574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexTheRoyal/pseuds/AlexTheRoyal
Summary: After Nartuo is killed by Sasuke at the Valley of the End, Tsunade reveals he was the son of The Fourth Hokage. Things immediately begin to spiral out of control for Konoha. Later, Naruto is curious as to why he has woken up in a casket.





	1. The Death of Uzumaki Naruto

Chapter One: The Death of Uzumaki Naruto.

Sasuke stared down at the still warm corpse of his once teammate Uzumaki Naruto. The gaping hole in his chest where his heart should have been was bleeding profusely, mixing with the rain and running in rivulets off the stone shore and into the water; staining it a light red.

“It’s funny,” Sasuke began, talking to the dead body. “I hated you. You were loud, brash, thick-headed, and were about as sociable as a chimpanzee… but you were the closest thing to a friend that I had in that gods-forsaken village.” Sasuke stiffened, gripping his eyes as a sudden spring of pain erupted from behind them. “Gah!” Clasping his hands to his eyes he fell to his knees, the pulsating ache of the cursed seal on his shoulder only seeming to exacerbate the sensation of a thousand electric pinpricks shooting out from inside his skull.

Just as suddenly as the pain came however, it went. Sasuke dropped his hands to the ground to keep himself from falling and opened his eyes, only to see the dead, glassed over eyes of Naruto staring back up at him. Naruto’s red, slitted eyes had returned to their normal blue, but all semblance of the boundless optimism Naruto had exuded from them was gone. They were empty eyes, looking up at him… judging him.

He shouted down at the corpse, “I had to do it! I had to kill you to get the Mangekyo! I need this power to kill Itachi! You wouldn’t understand! He took everything from me! I have to kill him! It’s my duty!”

The glassy blue eyes continued to stare, regardless of Sasuke’s justifications. With a loud grunt Sasuke got up before kicking Naruto’s body with enough force to shove him off the rock where he stood and into the river, where it began to slowly float away, face down.

Ripping his hitai-ate off Sasuke looked down at the distinct scratch crossing out the Konoha symbol. With a slight smirk he dropped it onto the stone ground, where it hit with a loud clang. Maybe Naruto wasn’t as useless as he had previously believed, not that it mattered now. Looking back at Naruto as his body slowly drifted away he felt his breath hitch, looking slightly defeated. “I’m sorry.” He whispered to himself. “I had to.”

Sasuke shook his head to clear his thoughts. This was childish, and no way for an Uchiha to act. He had wasted too much time ruminating, he had to get to Orochimaru as soon as possible, who knows when Naruto’s backup would arrive. Turning on his heel, Sasuke used his remaining strength to run as quickly as he could towards the rendezvous point to the north.

UN:PoA

Kakashi landed without a sound on the hard, stone shore. Picking up the scratched hitai-ate he held it in front of his hound. “Pakkun, what do you smell?” He asked urgently.

“It’s Sasuke’s for sure, but there’s more. The rain’s washed most of it away but there’s definitely a lot of Naruto’s blood here.” He stated, “Unfortunately, I can’t smell much of a trail anymore, the rain is too heavy.”

Kakashi nodded in understanding. “I’ll summon some more ninken and we’ll spread out, we need to pick the trail back up as soon as-”

“Kakashi-san!” Pakkun interrupted, pointing downstream towards a distinctive orange figure with his paw.

“No...” Kakashi whispered as he dropped the hitai-ate, sprinting across the flowing water towards Naruto. Spanning the distance in just a few seconds he picked up his student, hoping he was merely unconscious. Upon seeing the gaping hole in his chest however, Kakashi knew he was dead.

Scooping the rapidly cooling corpse up in his arms Kakashi closed his single visible eye. “I’m sorry, Naruto, I… I didn’t mean to be so late.” He sighed, reigning in his emotions in the way that only a hardened shinobi could, before shifting his grip so he could close Naruto’s eyes. It was time for the boy to rest.

“Pakkun” He said, turning to his furred friend on the shore. “Pick up Sasuke’s hitai-ate and bring it back to the village. We’ll see if we can use his scent to train other tracking hounds.” Pakkun nodded, picking up the hitai-ate in his mouth.

Without another word, Kakashi began the long journey back to the village.

UN:PoA

“Bring me more deer antler!” Tsunade shouted to one of the bustling nurses, deep bags under her eyes, showing her lack of sleep. She ground together more ingredients in an attempt to counteract the Tongarashigan pill of the Akimichi that Choji had taken. It truly was a fascinating piece of work. By forcing the body to burn through the entirety of its fat stores, the Akimichi clan had discovered how to produce an incredible amount of chakra. The only problem was that the process also produced an extraordinary amount of spiritual heat, throwing the spirit’s balance towards one end of the extreme and causing it to spiral out of control, weakening the-

“Hokage-sama!” Tsunade turned to see who interrupted her introspection. A genin she didn’t recognize stood before her. “Your presence is requested in the morgue.” He said with a bow.

With a deep frown Tsunade responded, “I’m in the middle of a procedure! You can’t just barge in here! Who told you to break protocol like this!?” she demanded.

“Kakashi-san did, ma’am. He recently returned with Naruto and ordered me to find you immediately.” The young boy explained. He must be fresh out of the academy, that was why she didn’t recognize him, and why he was stupid enough to interrupt a medical procedure on a random jounin’s orders..

Wait a minute.

Naruto?

Morgue?

“YOU!” Tsunade snapped at another nearby nurse. “I want you to grind some dried lotus root, steep it in a glass of peppermint tea, and force it down Akimichi’s throat, understood?” She ordered belligerently before storming off without waiting for a reply.

Tsunade’s heart was beating faster than was healthy for a woman of her advanced age as she rushed down the sterile white hallways of the Konoha hospital. After what was arguably the longest 60 seconds of her life she rammed open the doors to the morgue and barged in.

“Kakashi! What is the meaning of this!” She shouted, hoping against hope that her faux anger would change what she knew in her heart had happened to her once again. One of her precious people had died for this gods-forsaken village again. She knew it. She looked only at Kakashi, refusing to acknowledge the obvious orange figure on a nearby gurney.

Kakashi was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, head resting in his hands and hunched over. Without a word he pointed to the corpse of his dead student. Tsunade slowly turned to look at Naruto. He hadn’t been cleaned up at all, he was still covered in blood, sweat, and grime. Stepping closer she approached him and rested a hand on his forehead. All the anger was immediately washed away and replaced with an intense, aching sorrow. She had lost another one. She truly was cursed. Running her hand down his front she found the necklace, the cursed necklace that was doomed to kill anyone she gave it to. She had been a fool to believe that this small boy would be able to change her fate. Gripping the crystal she tore it away from him and shoved it into her pocket, fighting back tears as she did.

Looking lower she stared at the gaping wound in his chest, “Chidori?” she asked simply. Kakashi merely nodded his head in response, still refusing to look up. She closed her eyes, refusing to let tears fall, refusing to let Konoha make her cry for another person it had taken away from her. She failed miserably. Falling to her knees, loud sobs wracked her body. When had Naruto become so important to her? When had she let her guard down? She had sworn to herself she would never be vulnerable like that again, but like an abused lover she had made the excuses she knew she shouldn’t have. ‘It will be different this time,’ she had told herself.

Tsunade bit the inside of her cheek, hard enough to draw blood. She savored the taste, let it bring her back to the now. Standing up there was a fire in her eyes. The village had hurt her all over again. So she was going to hurt it back.

“Kakashi,” she started, suddenly back to her ‘all business’ persona. “make yourself presentable. We’ll be burying him next to his parents.”

Kakashi’s eye shot wide when he heard that. To reveal to the village that Sasuke had killed the only heir of The Fourth Hokage. The village would tear itself apart. Less than 48 hours ago, Sasuke had been the village’s golden child. A living icon of the next generation rising from the ashes of the last to grow stronger than the old. The lone possessor of the genes to pass on what was arguably the world’s most powerful kekkei genkai. Naruto on the other hand, had been treated as a leper since his birth. To suddenly reveal that he was Minato’s son and he had been killed by the treasonous ‘last Uchiha?’ They would be lucky if riots were all they had to deal with. He personally knew several veterans that had served with Minato who would gladly kill anyone that so much as insinuated Minato wasn’t perfect, but finding out the village as a whole had been mistreating his only son? An only son that was now dead, and incapable of receiving any form of reparation?

“H-Hokage-sama!” He cried out before the woman could leave the room. “Are you sure that’s wise?” He asked.

Tsunade didn’t so much as glance back at him. She was far too tired to justify her actions, and as far as she was concerned he could burn with the rest of them. She had to return to her hospital duties for now, but then she had some arrangements to make.

UN:PoA

Sakura was gently shaken awake. She hadn’t gotten much sleep. She had stayed up as long as she could, trying to wait until Naruto brought back Sasuke. It was around 4 PM when she finally conceded to the heavy weights that were pulling down her eyelids.

“Sakura dear, you need to wake up. Hokage-sama has called a village-wide meeting in the coliseum.” Said a familiar voice.

“M-mom?” She asked, getting up slowly before she remembered what she had stayed up for. “Mom! What time is it!?” She asked hurriedly, looking towards her alarm-clock.

“It’s 8 AM dear, you slept all day yesterday. Now you need to get up though, it would look bad for a ninja to not come when summoned by their kage, wouldn’t it? Your father is already gone.” Mebuki asked. “You go on sweetie, I have to do some things before I can go, but I’ll be right behind you.” She smiled.

Sakura gave her mom a quick hug and put a hair clip in to make her hair not look as messy before running off to the village center. “Bye mom! Love you!” She shouted as she bolted out the door with a smile.

She knew what the meeting was for. Naruto had gotten Sasuke back and was probably being rewarded or something. Lucky idiot might even be promoted to chuunin for this. She was sure Sasuke would be upset. After all, he had tried to leave, he would probably be put on probation or something, but she didn’t care. She was just happy he was back. They could start over, she could be more considerate of his darker feelings. They might even be put on the same team again.

UN:PoA

Kakashi was tense. The village coliseum was filled to bursting, with many ninja choosing to sit on the rooftops around the edges as the civilian population filled the seats. Looking down at the Hokage, he knew that something had snapped inside her. She wore all black as she stood in the center of the arena. Black robes, black eyeliner, black lipstick, black everything. She was making a show of this. There was something off, something about her eyes. The way they were a little too wide. The way they darted back and forth without blinking. Either she had gone crazy, or she was playing a very convincing role of a woman barely holding onto the edges of her sanity.

“Ladies and Gentleman of Konohagakure!” She began. “I come to you, bearing grim news.”

Yep, definitely crazy.

“Today we mourn the loss, of one of our most valued shinobi!” She said, projecting her hoarse voice as well as she could.

In the crowd, Sakura’s eyes shot wide. “No.” She whispered to herself. “Sasuke, Naruto wouldn’t!” She clenched her fists tightly, “I’ll kill him.” She swore to herself. Naruto had killed Sasuke! That idiot couldn’t do anything right! She was stupid to think he would bring Sasuke back!

“Today we mourn the death of the son of the Fourth Hokage, The Yellow Flash, Minato Namikaze.” The crowd erupted into murmurs. The Fourth had never had a son. What was she talking about? Sakura calmed visibly. She was obviously saddened that the unknown son of the Fourth Hokage had died, but that was an irrelevant bit of news to be stored away for later. The fact of the matter was that Sasuke may still be alive.

“Today we mourn the death of the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi!” Again, a stampede of whispers emanated from the crowd. This time more loudly, especially among the shinobi population that knew who she was talking about and were connecting the two bits of information together.

 _’There was no jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi though,’_ Sakura thought to herself, ‘ _The Fourth had killed it, right?’_ It made sense though, The Fourth _was_ a master of fuinjutsu. If anyone could seal away the beast, it would be him. If this person was both the only son of The Fourth Hokage, _and_ the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, then it was no wonder he chose to hide existence. He was a prime target. Whoever this person was, he must have been a well-kept secret of the village. Possibly an ANBU agent.

“Today we mourn the loss,” Tsunade paused, letting the tension build like a maestro conducting an orchestra before finally releasing the pressure. “of Uzumaki Naruto! Who died at the hands of the traitor and official missing-nin, Uchiha Sasuke!” With a snap of her fingers two men brought an ornate casket out into the center of the arena, it was gilded with intricate carvings etched into the wood. When Sakura looked closely, she could barely make out a mop of messy blond hair, and a bulky orange jacket.

Sakura’s mouth opened of its own accord. Eyes shooting wide as she realized what the Hokage had just said. She gasped, taking a deep breath.

“NO!” The cry filled the arena, only it did not come from Sakura. She shut her mouth and immediately turned to the source of the noise, just as many other did. Only to see the quiet Hyuuga girl being restrained by her father as she desperately tried to make her way to Naruto’s body. “No! Not Naruto-kun! Not Naruto-kun!” She screamed, tears streaming down her face.

“Hinata! Behave yourself!” Hiashi demanded with a hand on her arm, holding her back and attempting to force her to sit back down. “This is no way for a Hyuuga to act!” The man scolded. Hinata refused to listen, and even attempted to jyuuken her father’s hand to loosen his grip. His reflexes were too fast for her however and he moved his hand and quickly struck a point in her neck, causing her to go limp. He caught her limp form and placed it back in her seat. Although she couldn’t move she was still conscious, and still sobbing. “N-naruto! N-n-naruto!” She cried, a bit of snot coming out of her nose as she cried, not caring for the disgrace she was making of herself. Losing herself to the sorrow of the death of her idol and secret crush. Hiashi had of course known that his daughter harbored feelings for the young blond boy, but hadn’t known they were this intense. He would have to talk to her about this later.

“Yes!” Tsunade continued, acting as if the outburst had never happened. “Naruto, son of Minato, had been killed by the traitor, Uchiha Sasuke. He served us in life, as a proud shinobi, and by keeping the Kyuubi sealed within him. He served us still in death, by taking the monstrosity with him into the afterlife!”

She stepped around the casket, resting a hand on Naruto’s cheek for a brief moment. “Those of you who wish to pay respects to the hero, Uzumaki Naruto, follow me. We will be burying him next to his parents.” She announced before walking away, the same two men from before closed the casket before lifting it and following her out of the coliseum.

UN:PoA

Sakura was numb.

She knew that her parents had spoken to her about something, but she couldn’t remember what. She knew that Kakashi had come to her and said something as well, he had even hugged her, but she couldn’t feel the warmth of the embrace. The entire burial had felt like she was watching it on TV. Like it wasn’t really happening.

True to her word Tsunade had buried Naruto next to his parents in the Namikaze estate. Although perhaps estate was a strong word. The fourth did not come from a clan, but had purchased a couple acres of land outside the city wall. On it was a simple home one could have expected to find in a nice suburb, except everything was incredibly overgrown and run down. Behind the house were two gravestones that simply read “Her safe harbor” and “His red-hot habanero.”

In the back of her mind Sakura noted that the body of The Fourth was supposedly destroyed during the Kyuubi attack. Although it made perfect sense that the official report would say that if he had wanted his burial to be private with his apparent wife. Tsunade had spoken some more as Naruto’s casket was buried next to his parents, but Sakura couldn’t hear her. While many of the villagers chose not to follow Naruto to his burial site, there was still more than enough to make it so she was crowded on all angles as everyone tried to gather around the rather impromptu ceremony.

She went home immediately after the final bit of dirt was placed over Naruto’s grave. After her parents talked to her about friendship and loss or something, she went into her room and sat at her desk. The same desk she sat at when she had done homework back in the academy. It was funny, it had only been what, a year since they graduated? She couldn’t remember. It was like none of that was real, like it had happened to a different person. She wasn’t the person she was a mere 4 days ago. Her world had changed the moment she realized what she had done. She knew that keeping his promises was part of Naruto’s nindo. She knew he liked her. She knew she could use that to get him to go after Sasuke. If she hadn’t been so pushy with Sasuke, had been a better friend and less of a flirt, he might have stayed. If she hadn’t begged Naruto to go after Sasuke, he would still be alive. If she had been stronger she could have gone with him. If. If. If.

It was her fault Sasuke left. It was her fault Naruto was dead. It was her fault she was all alone.

Sakura was numb.

UN:PoA

The week after Naruto’s burial was hectic to say the least. Kakashi was wrong about there being riots, however. So that was a positive. In fact, Kakashi realized that the village was taking the revelation that the pariah was actually a hero rather well. There were plenty of heated arguments, but no one had died yet. Many of the villagers were simply sulking, minds filled with _‘I should have’_ and _‘if only.’_ The melancholy mood was oppressive, even for him. Others, although a much smaller number, actually celebrated. Not for the death of “Naruto the Hero” as some had taken to calling him posthumously, but for the death of the Kyuubi. Kakashi supposed they were somewhat right to celebrate. It wasn’t every day a being of pure energy and manifestation of hatred was destroyed.

It was only when the two groups clashed that things became a problem. The mourners believed that the celebrators were not sufficiently upset about the death of Naruto the Hero, while the celebrators believed that the mourners were not sufficiently happy that Naruto had succeeded in the mission given the him by the Fourth. Protecting his people from a grave threat.

They were both partially right. Kakashi had heard both sides of the arguments multiple times while having to defuse rather heated debates on multiple occasions. Battlelines had been drawn, but he knew no actual battles would ensue. Thankfully both sides had come to the conclusion that a civil war in the village that Naruto the Hero had died serving would only disgrace his memory.

“Kakashi-san,” A voice spoke from behind him. Turning away from the Memorial Stone he saw a genin looking up at him. He couldn’t tell if it was the same one he had sent to fetch Tsunade that first night, or if the many similar genin that had been sent to fetch him where simply blurring together in his mind. “Kakashi-san, there’s another altercation at the south gate,” the boy said with a tense bow.

With a rather forced eye-smile Kakashi nodded to him. “Of course, I’ll be right there,” he said, allowing the boy to stand back up and return to the Hokage Tower. Kakashi began to lazily jump from rooftop to rooftop on his way to the gate. He had taken on a rather bizarre role lately. He was the sensei that trained the traitor Uchiha and taught him the technique used to kill Naruto, the Hero. He was also the sensei that trained Naruto, and had cared for him when the village had not. He had expected people to hate him. He had hoped they would praise him. Instead, they pitied him, and that only made things worse. Tsunade was using this role of his to help diffuse any situations as they arose. He hadn’t slept in days.

“All right then, what’s happening now.” Kakashi sighed as he landed between two arguing figures just inside the south gate.

UN:PoA

“What the hell happened here?” Tsunade didn’t so much as flinch at the accusatory tone that came from the window of her office. “I take an extra week to check on some contacts in my spy network, and now Naruto’s dead and the village is poised to tear itself apart.”

“Sasuke betrayed the village for Orochimaru, and Naruto was killed trying to get him back. I told everyone about his parents, and that he was jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi.” Tsunade replied to her white haired teammate nonchalantly, taking another shot of sake.

“How did this happen?” Jiraiya asked, stepping into the office. “How did Orochimaru get a hold of Sasuke?”

“Sasuke went willingly, and was escorted out by some of Orochimaru’s most trusted lieutenants. I sent Naruto and a ragtag team of genin, and one chuunin, after them at Naruto’s request. Each of them barely survived, with Naruto being killed by Sasuke at The Valley of the End.”

“The cursed seal couldn’t have driven him to do something like that. Anko hasn’t shown any signs of wanting to betray the village.” Jiraiya scratched his chin as he processed this new information. “Did any of these lieutenants survive for questioning?”

“No.”

Jiraiya turned to look at Tsunade, before immediately forgetting what he was going to say. She was a mess. Black eyeliner smearing down her cheeks, in a clear tear-stained pattern. Her hair was a disheveled nest of tangled strands. What made it worse was that her face was completely calm and her eyes were dry. No sign of the obvious grief that had put her in this state. Meaning it had happened a while ago, and she hadn’t bothered to clean herself up. Couple that with the frankly irrational way she had announced the situation to the village. From his report, she was taking this worse than when Dan died.

“Are you ok?” He asked lamely, not sure how to proceed. He was a legendary super pervert, not a grief counselor.

“No,” She answered back in a flat tone before leaning back into her chair. “but I’m better than I was. I finally collapsed a couple days after Naruto’s burial, and Shizune has done wonders in calming me down. I was already running on fumes trying to help the Akimichi boy and the others when the news of Naruto’s death came in. If I could go back and redo my actions with a more level head, I would have revealed Naruto’s parentage much more...” She paused, searching for a word. “diplomatically.”

She had definitely gone over the top. Calling a village wide meeting of both shinobi and civilian alike had been out of line. Not to mention her rather theatrical delivery of the information. She had seen the way Kakashi looked at her throughout the event, and it was a testament to the man’s unwavering loyalty that he hadn’t lost all faith in her because of her actions. Although maybe he did, and was simply very good at hiding it. His loyalty must feel especially strained now with how she was running him ragged. She simply didn’t trust anyone else to handle any Naruto related flare-ups with a level head. Particularly when ninja were involved. Some of these arguments were reaching an almost religious level of zeal. She had wanted the village to share in her pain, not destroy itself.

“But you would have still told them?” Jiraiya asked, interrupting her brief introspection.

“Yes, I would have done it after Naruto was buried though. To put him on display like I did, Naruto he-” She paused again, taking another shot of lukewarm sake. “he didn’t deserve that.” She finished before gripping the necklace that once again rested around her neck. Wordlessly sending Naruto an apology in the afterlife.

“I think it’s already time that I retire Jiraiya.” She said, abruptly changing the topic. “This place was barely tolerable with Naruto here, and now that he’s gone it’s unbearable. Every time-” The clang of her sake dish breaking on the floor after being dropped by shaking hands filled the room. Taking a deep breath to calm herself like Shizune kept reminding her, Tsunade fought back tears. “Every time I go to sleep I feel Dan laying next to me, I see Nawiki whenever I give a mission to a genin, and now I hear Naruto laughing and calling me old with every gust of wind. I can’t stay here Jiraiya. I just can’t.”

The Toad Sage walked around the desk and placed a hand on his Kage’s shoulder. “Have Shikaku handle the logistics of the village, get Iruka to hand out missions to the genin, and take some time off with Shizune. Once you feel ready, you two can look through Jounin and ANBU profiles and decide who you think is the best fit for Hokage.” He said simply with a smile that somehow managed to not look forced. “Everything will be ok, Tsunade-hime.” He whispered before standing up and walking towards the window again.

“What will you do?” She asked with a sniff.

“I’m gonna go snake hunting.” He replied coolly before jumping out and onto the street.

UN:PoA

Naruto scrunched his face. His chest hurt like hell. On the bright side, whatever hospital bed he was in sure was comfortable. Opening his eyes finally he saw… nothing. It was pitch black. Trying to sit up didn’t do him any good either, as he immediately hit his head on something soft. Blinking several times he wriggled around trying to find out exactly where he was. It was some kind of padded box or something. With a deep frown he started knocking on the roof of the box.

“Very funny, but you can let me out now!” He shouted. He was a prankster but even he didn’t prank people in the hospital. “Hello?”

…

…

…

“Helloooo~?”

 

UN:PoA

Author’s Notes

If you’re wondering why this chapter feels rushed, that’s because it is. I needed to set up a LOT of things as a sort of prologue before I can get to the good stuff, and I decided that rather than spending chapter after chapter going into detail, I would try shifting from scene to scene with a few convenient little time skips to make things move smoothly. I hate the way I made Tsunade act, but think of it like ripping off a bandaid. Best to get it over with and tear it off all at once instead of doing it slowly and extending the pain. I promise her theatrics will stop and her grief fueled insanity will mellow out as we go.

Some of you may notice that I added a Namikaze estate and put “her safe harbor” on Minato’s tombstone. That’s because I wanted the graves to be anonymous and “her yellow flash” wouldn’t be very low profile. Minato means “harbor” in japanese (at least according to the wiki,) and with Kushina coming from the land of whirlpools I liked the idea that she would refer to him as the safe harbor she went to after fleeing the storm. If you’re bothered by that kind of stuff then stop reading here. I plan on making many more ever so convenient little alterations to canon as I go. Don’t worry I’m not going to go full AU and make Sasuke and Naruto fight in giant robots over who gets to marry Fem!Goku and adopt Harry Potter or something, just make a few tweaks that I think improve the story.

As for the name of the fic, I don’t know, it just kind of came to me. Naruto is the last known Uzumaki (for now,) and thereby head of the clan. I always imagined the Uzumaki to be a patriarchal clan that were like a less evil, more well-rounded version of the Hyuuga. Rigid and grounded in pragmatism, but willing to joke and bend the rules occasionally. After all, you don’t become fuinjutsu masters by taking an “eat, pray, love” approach to things. You work yourself to the bone and let off steam in your down time. I like to think of the Uzumaki as a bunch of engineering students working for PhDs that prank each other when things get too tense.

On a different topic, most of my author’s notes won’t be this long either, so don’t worry.

**_ AO3 SPECIFIC AUTHOR'S NOTE! _ **

I mostly post on fanfiction (dot) net, but also post my work here. If you want me to see your review then you'd be better off posting it over at fanfiction (dot) net. Odds are I will ignore any posts/comments here. It's not that I don't care about your views, it's that I can't be asked to check 2 websites for my 1 fic.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Flowers of Fate.

Naruto had continued to knock for what felt like an hour or so before shouting out. He had gotten a major headache about 15 minutes ago and he was losing his patience. “Ok! I know you think you’re funny, but you can either open the box now or I’ll break it open!” There had been no response _again,_ so he began to formulate his plan. There was no way he could rasengan his way out; there was barely enough room for him in this box so there definitely wasn’t enough for him to create a clone to help him mold the chakra. Why did his signature move have to be based almost solely on molding chakra? He hated molding chakra! Luckily whoever had replaced his torn jacket had left his kunai filled leg pouch untouched. He got a nasty cramp in his side with how he had to bend in order to reach them, but managed to pull one out before beginning the tedious job of carving his way out. It wouldn’t take too long, the wood couldn’t be more than an inch or so thick, he would be out in a few minutes.

Or at least, he would have if he hadn’t immediately received a face full of dirt once he broke through the wood. Shaking his face to get as much off as he could, he blinked several times. Okay, so he wasn’t just in a box, he was in a box _and_ underground. That wasn’t exactly the news he had been hoping for. Not to mention that his headache was just getting worse. With a determined frown Naruto began to dig through the dirt with his kunai. The throbbing in his head only drove him to push faster. He wanted to get out of here as soon as possible and yell at whoever had thought it would be funny to bury him alive. He had known there were people that didn’t like him because of the Kyuubi, but it had never escalated this far before. It was mostly just rude stares and being ignored. Of course, if Mizuki had been willing to steal the scroll of forbidden techniques and kill him to make a quick getaway, then he assumed there were probably others with similar ideas. Still, to kidnap him from the hospital and bury him alive? That was was just weird. They should have at least killed him _before_ burying him; that’s what a ninja would have done, and he doubted anyone but a ninja could have kidnapped him from the hospital.

He highly doubted Sasuke would have buried him alive after he passed out. That just wasn’t his style. Where would he have gotten the casket from anyway? So that meant that someone must have found him and brought him to Konoha hospital. Only for someone else to kidnap him while unconscious and bury him alive in a perfectly good casket.

Now _that_ was a story to tell the grandkids. If he ever had grandkids. If Sakura didn’t kill him for not bringing Sasuke back. Oh man, just the thought of talking to her after getting knocked out by Sasuke was giving him anxiety. He had promised to bring back Sasuke and failed catastrophically. He had considered justifying it as, ‘I promised to bring him back, but never specified when. I can just keep trying to bring him back until the promise is fulfilled!’ but knew it wouldn’t convince her. Heck it didn’t even convince him. Sasuke would be considered a full-blown missing-nin now. Sakura would never talk to him again, and he had officially broken his nindo. So that sucked.

On the bright side though, he thought he was almost through all the dirt. With every patch of dirt that landed on his face he would shake it off, before shaking and kicking it down to the bottom of the coffin. After about 15 minutes his head felt like it was about to explode, and he had filled up the entirety of the coffin with dirt. Luckily, the dirt was clay-y and kinda wet so it didn’t collapse on top of him. Clay-y? Was that a word? Whatever, dig now, worry about that stuff later. Oh man he was gonna’ kill whoever buried him. Not literally, but he was gonna’ yell at them a lot and maybe paint their house neon orange or something. Tsunade might kill them though, for like, treason and stuff. That would have to be after taking something for this headache. Holy cow, whatever painkiller they had given him at the hospital was _definitely_ wearing off, all his muscles felt like they were on fire and he was getting lightheaded from the pain as he dug.

_Finally,_ after another 15 minutes he broke through and crawled out to lay on the sweet dew covered grass nearby. He had heard the phrase ‘six feet under’ before, but hadn’t figured they would have literally buried him six feet under. Maybe it was supposed to be irony or something? He didn’t care right now, he was too busy sucking in as much air into his lungs as he could, and his pain started to fade. Oh, the painkiller wasn’t wearing off, he had been suffocating to death… cool.

Finally opening his eyes after taking his time to recoup any lost oxygen, he noticed that the sky was particularly beautiful. You couldn’t see the stars like this in the village because of all the light pollution. Usually, he only saw it on long missions outside of the village when they had to camp out. Lifting the kunai up to look at it in the light, he frowned and threw it aside. It was completely dulled and some of the edges were starting to chip. It’s true they were meant to be mostly disposable, but that was still like 500 ryo down the drain.

The birds started chirping and he decided it was time to get up. Nature was calling to him. Not the birds, he had to pee. Smirking to himself at his internal joke he stood up and walked over to the edge of the property. Once relieved, he turned around to look at his would-be grave with a little more detail. It was quite a sight. There were flowers laid out all around his grave and a small but ornate gravestone. The house nearby looked like it was halfway through some major renovations. The whole thing looked like it had been power-washed and there was that smell in the air that said ‘this paint may not look fresh, but if you touch it you’ll get it all over your hands.’

So someone had kidnapped him, and buried him alive behind their house? That was dumb. Not to mention they had buried him next to their parents or something. He looked at the two older gravestones next to where he had been buried. Something about harbors and peppers? He didn’t know what that was about. Looking to what was _supposed_ to be his gravestone he read what was written.

 

Here lies

Uzumaki Naruto

Son of

Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina

Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi

and

Hero of Konohagakure.

…

…

…

“Ok, what the fuck?”

UN:PoA

Hiashi was pleased. After he dragged the still sobbing Hinata home from the announcement that the Naruto boy had died he tossed her into her room, rather unceremoniously too. He had refused to let her watch the burial, or rather, he had refused to carry her to the burial and she hadn’t been in any condition to go by herself.

The first day almost the entire house had to listen to her wail late into the night. ‘She just lost her friend.’ Hiashi had told himself, ‘Give her a day to grieve.’

And a day she had gotten. He swore to himself that if he had heard so much as a sniffle from her room the next day he would go in their personally. Only no sounds came. That had actually made him rather nervous. Just as he was about to go and check on her though, she came out, grabbed a large glass of water from the kitchen, and then she returned to her room. She had her own indoor plumbing, as was only fitting for an heiress, and a bookshelf. So, all she needed to leave her room for was food, water, and training. Kurenai had given their whole team a week off to mourn, so she had nowhere else to be. While he hadn’t seen her get any food, his parental concern had been assuaged and he returned to his study.

The 3rd day is when she had surprised him. She come out of her room, fully kitted out, as if she was preparing for a mission and walked into the rear courtyard. Using his Byakugan to keep an eye on her from in his study was a simple task. She had walked right up to a nearby chuunin of the branch family and looked up at him. “Fight me.” She had said simply. Hiashi’s eyes had widened from shock alone. A bit of an overreaction considering he didn’t have any rational reason to do so. That had been surprising, but not overly so. She had just spent two days in her room and had no team duties. She was probably just working out some energy and frustrations.

The man had looked at Hinata like she had grown a second head but simply bowed and gave the appropriate, “Yes, Hinata-hime.” before dropping into the juuken stance. He began first, giving her an agonizingly slow strike that was obviously meant to be blocked. She slapped his hand away and looked at him with an angry frown. “I didn’t say ‘pity me,’ I said ‘ _fight me_!’” She growled. Hiashi had to consciously prevent himself from turning his head to look at Hinata. If the chuunin had looked at Hinata like she had a second head before, then she must have appeared to have 3 heads, 16 arms, and a Sharingan at this point.

“Yes Hinata-hime, forgive me.” He said with another deep bow. Hiashi put his pen down so he could actively watch his daughter. What followed was 10 minutes of her barely surviving. He frowned deeply to himself, wondering what he had been expecting. A small group had gathered around the fight by that point. None of them made it outwardly obvious that they were watching, they just so happen to be eating their meal nearby, facing away at an angle, and with their Byakugan active.

After Hinata had collapsed and vomited slightly, the chuunin dropped his guard completely. He bowed again and made to walk away before Hinata stood back up. “Again,” she said simply, looking at the man as he tried to turn away. He stopped and turned to her, again bowing. “Hinata-hime, I don’t think that’s a good idea. You should rest, and if you want, you can come to me again. We can always train together lat- AHHHH!” He let out a blood curdling scream, collapsing forward. While he had been trying to help her save face, Hinata had shaped her hand in a familiar sign, letting out a quiet “Hya.” as she did. Hiashi couldn’t restrain himself this time, his head snapping to face his daughter like he had been an everyday civilian.

She had never used the caged-bird seal before. Hinata spat out a mass of bloody phlegm before speaking. “I _said…_ again!” She shouted before charging at the man. In his shock the chuunin had managed to let Hinata get a few strikes in while he recovered, before leaping back and re-dedicating himself to the fight. “Y-yes Hinata-hime!” The watching crowd made themselves scarce after that.

Hiashi’s frown had turned into a loving smile. If he had known his death would have had this kind of affect on his daughter, he would have killed the Uzumaki child himself years ago. Fourth Hokage be damned.

UN:PoA

Naruto had been pacing for at least 10 minutes. “Ok so,” He began, talking to one of his clones. “Either this ‘prankster’ has one of the worst senses of humor in the world, and was willing to let loose an S-class secret for the sake of his joke, or when I had been retrieved I was in such a bad state that everyone had assumed I was dead, buried me, and revealed I am the apparent child of The Fourth Hokage to the world.” Naruto collapsed backwards onto one of the piles of flowers. “So now what?” He asked the clone

“I dunno man, I’m you remember?” The clone responded. The real Naruto looked at him with squinty eyes. “You’re no help, why did I even make you?” The clone sighed. “You _said_ , it was to bounce ideas off of me, but we both knew that wouldn’t work. You’re just scared that you’re actually a ghost and the Shinigami is gonna sneak up behind you, so you want me to watch your back.”

It was the real Naruto’s turn to sigh now, he definitely wasn’t a ghost. Ghosts didn’t need to breath or dig out of caskets. The clone was just trying to scare him. “I mean, if I go back then they’re gonna think I’m undead or something. Or some jerk that’s just pretending to be me. Or like, 11 other different things that could end really badly for me… us.” he amended after a moment.

“Oh yeah, and what are you gonna do instead? Run away? That’s not part of our nindo.” The clone countered.

“You mean the nindo we broke the second we let Sasuke get away?” Naruto countered in return. “Just think what Sakura will do to us when she realizes that not only did we not get Sasuke back, but we let her think we were dead for who knows how long? We might _actually_ die after that.”

“Good point. I suppose we could- Oh gods you were right! The Shinigami! He’s right behind you!” The clone shouted, eyes wide in terror.

“What!?” The real Naruto jumped up and turned around, only to hear a loud “HA!” behind him and a poof as the clone dismissed itself. He couldn’t blame it; it had thought it was funny, and now he kinda did too. Wait, why would he think it was funny too?

Naruto frowned to himself before deciding to file that question under the ‘interesting, but not important right now’ part of his brain. That was a really big part. He’d have to go through there one of these days. There were probably those weird cockroaches in there. Maybe that’s why his mind looked like a sewer whenever he saw the Kyuubi. There was a leak in that room he never checked out.

Swallowing hard, Naruto did what any sensible ninja would do. He picked up one of the flowers that was left for him and started picking off the petals. One by one.

“I leave...”

“I stay...”

“I leave...”

“I stay...”

“I leave...”

UN:PoA

“What now?” Kakashi sighed at the genin that had just knocked on his door. He had finally managed to get a bit of sleep, when he was woken up a whopping 2 hours after his head hit the pillow. He was going to have an aneurysm at this point.

“S-Sir, Hokage-sama has requested your prescience in the Hokage Tower immediately. I apologize for any inconvenience.” The young girl stuttered. So this one _definitely_ wasn’t the same boy he had sent to get the Hokage. Unless he was henged and Kakashi was just too tired to be able to tell.

No, that was just the lack of sleep talking. There was no demon genin that had nothing better to do than bug him. At least not anymore. _‘Wow, ok,’_ Kakashi thought to himself _. ‘Screw you too, brain.’_ Standing tall Kakashi patted the girl on the top of her head. “It’s fine, it’s not your fault. Take your time getting back. I’m on my way.” He said, trying to be extra kind to make up for his rather cruel greeting earlier.

Locking the door behind him, he jumped on top of his place’s roof and began to journey towards the Hokage Tower. He could have sworn he heard a henge pop behind him as he jumped away, but convinced himself he was hearing things.

UN:PoA

“Are you sure he’s the best candidate?” Shizune asked her mentor. “What if the villagers freak out? He hasn’t gotten a psych evaluation since Naruto’s death. What if he’s not stable?”

“Then, they can rot in hell. He’s the best jounin for the job right now, despite his current situation. I don’t want to spend the next two weeks here looking through profiles just to pick him anyway. Besides,” Tsunade continued. “I’m not exactly stable right now either. Do you really think I’d do a better job of keeping this place together than him? I’m drinking _way_ too much and if I don’t do those breathing exercises every 30 minutes or so, it feels like my brain will melt. Hell, I’m the one who grades most of those psych evaluations and I wouldn’t even pass myself at this point.”

Shizune looked like she was about to argue but there was a sudden knock at the door. That was odd, they had expected Kakashi to come in through the window. “Enter.” Tsunade spoke with all the dignity and authority that she could muster.

Kakashi walked into the room slowly. There was a rather dark bag under his one eye, and Shizune noted to herself that he was giving off an eerily similar vibe to the one that Tsunade had given before she collapsed a few days ago. Shizune had gotten her to take a shower and clean herself up, but she was still wearing the black robe and had trouble sleeping.

Kakashi bowed deeply in an unusually serious mood. He stayed bowed down for perhaps a few seconds too long before sighing a, “Hokage-sama.” and standing back up.

“Are you ok, Kakashi-san?” Tsunade immediately asked, ‘doctor mode’ taking over. “You don’t look well. Please, sit.”

“Moderate to severe sleep deprivation, causing mild audio-visual hallucinations. Minor chest pain, and loss of appetite, possibly unrelated but unlikely” He said stoically, giving a rather spot-on self diagnosis. He gave her an eye-smile before taking the offered seat. “Nothing compared to my time in ANBU though. I’ll be fine.”

“I see.” She began to give a slightly worried frown. “Tell me Kakashi, are you loyal to Konoha?” She asked, changing the subject.

Kakashi barely managed to stop himself from raising his eyebrow. He hadn’t expected that. He knew there was a good chance he would be questioned. After all, he was the sensei to the Traitor Uchiha. But, he figured it would have happened within the first few days after his return. When it didn’t, he assumed they either didn’t question his loyalty or they were too busy. It made sense though. Run him ragged with constant small missions and then question him when he had his guard lowered. “Yes ma’am,” he answered quickly, perhaps _too_ quickly, but he hoped not. It was true; the thought of defection hadn’t occurred to him once. This was his home. It was all he had.

“I see, you have been run down lately, and I’m partially to blame for that. I apologize.” Tsunade began. “I have put you through a lot, and so soon after the death of one of your students. I must ask though, how much more would you go through for Konoha?”

“I would die for her ma’am.” He replied instantly. It was also true. He loved this place. From the hot summer days to the cool winter nights. From the Hokage Monument to the Memorial Stone. He loved all of it, even the parts that made him sad.

“Good, good.” Tsunade said, nodding slowly. She looked at him in his one eye and stared at him in the way that only a Kage could. “Then I have a mission for you, a mission of such grave importance that I dare not give it to anyone else. I know you are tired, but don’t worry, you’ll have some time to rest and prepare for this mission, should you choose to accept it.”

Kakashi paused, but nodded. So it was a suicide mission, not a questioning of his loyalty. It wasn’t a big deal, he had gone through many supposed suicide missions during the war with Iwa. Not to mention his time in black ops. “Of course, ma’am. Anything for Konoha,” he said, although there was something in the back of his head that told him he was forgetting something.

Tsunade smiled and nodded as well. “Very good, Kakashi, I was hoping you’d say that, but perhaps you should hear what the mission is before accepting it.” She stood and took her hat off her desk. Walking over to him she held it out for him to take. “You mission is to take up the position of Hokage, and protect Konoha and her people from all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

His eye widened. He looked at the hat. He had always thought he would look cool in it, ever since Minato-sensei had taken up the position of Fourth Hokage. He had never actually wanted to wear it though, at least not seriously. He reached a shaky hand up to take the hat from Tsunade. He couldn’t tell if he was shaking because he was nervous, excited, or if it was from the sleep deprivation. He held it in his lap and looked at it.

“Hokage-sama, if you are sure in your decision I would be honored to-” He paused… oh yeah, _that’s_ what he had forgotten. “I can’t.”

Tsunade and Shizune both raised their eyebrows in shock. “I’m sorry, what? Why not?” Tsunade asked, trying to not look upset.

“I’m still a jounin sensei. I have a duty to Haruno Sakura. I can’t leave her. I can’t abandon her after everything she’s already been through.” He explained. Holding the hat back out to his Kage.

Tsunade frowned deeply. She wasn’t proud to admit it, but she had forgotten the Haruno girl had existed all together. She was a rather sub-par shinobi, all things considered. “Are you sure about this? If you turn this down, I can’t guarantee that I won’t find someone else. This could be a one-time offer,” she explained.

Kakashi nodded. “I’m sure. I can’t just-” He paused. “After Obito and Rin died, Minato-sensei was all I had. If he had left me behind, I would have-” He paused again, fighting back emotions he had buried long ago. He had always considered his father a coward for taking his own life. After Rin’s death however, he had been feeling rather ‘cowardly’ himself. If Minato-sensei hadn’t been there for him… He may have been Hokage at the time, but Minato was till very much his sensei, and he didn’t know if he was capable of doing both like Minato had. “I can’t leave her.” he said simply. As though he had just commented that the sky was blue.

Tsunade nodded slowly, she saw something in Kakashi that she had seen in herself. At this point, Sakura was to Kakashi, as Naruto was to her. For some reason he had pinned his hopes to a small, stupid, fragile child just like she had. She wouldn’t take her away from him. Not to mention that he probably subconsciously saw a bit of Rin in Sakura. She hadn’t gone too in-depth on the reports, but knew that Rin hadn’t taken the death of Obito well. The report she read said it was suicide, and she had used Kakashi to do the deed.

Taking the hat back from his grasp she nodded. “Very well, I understand. However, I would ask you not tell anyone about this. The last thing I need is a bunch of power hungry jounin vying for-” Tsunade paused. Looking down at Kakashi. His eye was closed and there was a very subtle snoring sound coming from him. He truly was a good man. It’s a shame he wouldn’t take the hat.

UN:PoA

Naruto rubbed his chest as he frowned. It was odd, it didn’t really hurt that bad anymore, but it just felt weird. Like, his ribs were all squishy and bendy, not hard like they should be.

“Ok, so I guess I’m leaving.” Naruto said to himself. Tossing the last rose onto the ground. That was the 7th rose out of the last 7 roses that had he had ended with “I leave.” as he plucked the final petal. Naruto looked out into the distance. He could just _barely_ make out Konoha in the distance. With a nod of his head, he decided to go in the opposite direction. East? Just as he took his first step away from everything he had ever known he paused, and turned back. Not to face the village, but the graves of his supposed parents. It just felt _wrong_ to not do something. Walking back so he was facing the gravestones, he bowed. “I know we never met, and I know you sealed a demon inside me, but thank you for bringing me into this world. I wish things had been different...mom...dad.” He whispered before standing up straight. Without another word he took his hitai-ate off and dropped it on his ‘grave.’

Naruto picked up the kunai that he had dropped, he had the feeling he was going to need every bit of equipment he could get. Especially if he couldn’t go to his apartment and grab his mission bag. It was funny, this whole fiasco had begun with him trying to prevent Sasuke from leaving the village. Now he was doing the same, albeit for different reasons. Stretching out and giving one last look at his home Naruto nodded to himself. This was oddly freeing, like taking your shoes off after a long day. Cracking his neck Naruto turned away from Konoha and began running east. He didn’t know where he was going, just that he needed to go somewhere that wasn’t here.

UN:PoA

Author’s notes:

“HINATA WOULD NEVER DO THAT!” I hear you say. You’re right, the Hinata you knew wouldn’t have, but the Hinata you knew died when she saw Naruto’s corpse. If you’re obsessed with someone to the point that you stalk and borderline worship them, and then that person dies? You’re going to go through some changes. In most people the change would not be this sudden, or this severe, but Hinata’s hero was killed, and she was unable to see him buried because she was too weak. Granted there was no way she could have reasonably been expected to fight off her father, but when you’re already mentally unstable _and_ grieving? Things like “logic” and “reason” start to matter less and less.

As some of you may have noticed, Naruto is kind of acting as comic relief right now. That’s how I’ve always kind of seen Naruto. Even in a shit situation he makes light of it, not because he wants to, but because he doesn’t know what else to do. I promise you though that Naruto will be more “spider-man” and less “deadpool” if that makes sense.

I also decided to stick with the current “jumping from scene to scene” format for the foreseeable future. I had originally planned on basically splitting each of these scenes up into different chapters, but have now decided that scene jumping is much more convenient and I don’t have to write the boring “in between” moments where nothing is happening.

One of my reviewers asked if Naruto was buried alive, or if he was actually dead and resurrected. Let me be 100% clear here. Naruto was dead. He had no heart. There was no brain activity. By all reasonable metrics he would be considered dead. That being said, Naruto THINKS that he was buried alive. After all, people don’t just come back from the dead, right?

And last but not least, I forgot to mention my beta in my last chapter. PartHistory. He’s trying to teach me to use google docs (I usually just use libreoffice,) so if there are any hiccups with the uploads it’s not that he’s a bad beta, it’s that I have no idea what the duck I’m doing.

Also look at me, breaking last chapter’s promise on shorter author’s notes. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to find a new nindo :^)

 


	3. Responsible Adult

Chapter 3: Responsible Adult

 

Kakashi felt like a new man. It was amazing what 14 hours of sleep could do for the chronically conscious. He had been rather embarrassed when Shizune woke him up after his impromptu nap, the Hokage having gone to tell Shikaku that his services would be required longer than she had expected. After an apology, and a short bow, he had made his way back home where he resumed his previously interrupted rest. The sun was still out when he fell back to sleep, but he figured he deserved to be able to relax with everything that had been happening lately.

After taking his morning shower the next day, Kakashi had decided to give himself a bit of a break. Setting out to get himself a proper breakfast rather than the ration bars he usually ate. Taking time to de-stress was one of the often-overlooked parts of maintaining your ability to perform in the field. Taking his time to walk to a nearby restaurant. He looked at the specials that were plastered on the windows near the entrance.

Oh, the miso soup was on sale, that would be nice. They even had salt-broiled saury. His favorite! Stepping into the restaurant Kakashi was seated by a kind waitress and quickly placed his order. Leaning back in his comfortable chair he looked out the window and watched as shinobi and civilian alike walked the streets. Occasionally sipping on some of the complementary tea as he did. All without anyone see his face of course.

Yes, Kakashi had needed a break, and this was most definitely good for him. Taking time off to take care of your own needs was a very responsible thing to do. That’s all he was doing, taking some time to collect himself. He most certainly _wasn’t_ trying to postpone the inevitable discussion he would have to have with Sakura later. Nope... not at all.

 

UN:PoA

 

Sasuke was growing impatient. He had been promised power, training, techniques, and knowledge. He had assumed he would be taking up a place as Orochimaru’s apprentice, or at least one of his top pupils. Instead he was treated even more delicately than he had been while in Konoha. It was like all of these Oto ninjas had been told that he was Orochimaru’s prized chihuahua, that also just so happen to be made out of equal parts glass and pressure-sensitive gunpowder. He hadn’t even seen Orochimaru yet, having been told he had been “previously engaged” before Sasuke could show up. Whatever the hell that meant.

The Oto base he was located in was rather large, especially considering it wasn’t even part of Otogakure proper. In fact, it was a bit north of Otogakure. Meaning, he had been ushered _past_ where Orochimaru was currently located so that he could wait in a base while the snake sannin finished whatever business was keeping him. The layout of the base was a simple cross shape that was nestled against a mountain, with the northern tip of the cross going into the mountain. He had been given free rein over the entirety of the eastern and southern wings of the complex. There was plenty to do. A sizable cafeteria for him to eat at. Several libraries filled with everything from historical manuscripts to the fundamentals of chakra theory. There was even a training ground for him to practice in.

If he had wanted public libraries and empty training grounds, he could have stayed in Konoha. He didn’t betray his home and brutally murder the closest thing he could call a friend just for a change of scenery. He was tempted to test the Mangekyo but didn’t dare use it without good cause.

After unlocking the Mangekyo Sharingan a sort of instinctual knowledge on what he could do with it had entered his mind. Along with the risks associated. Suddenly, he knew that with Kagutsuchi in his right eye he could manipulate and even extinguish the flames of the Amaterasu that came from his left eye. With the Mangekyo active in both eyes he could create the chakra manifestation Susanoo. It would be weak at first, but would grow stronger the longer he had these eyes. He also knew that with every use of a Mangekyo technique his eyesight would deteriorate until he eventually went blind.

The idea that the use of the Mangekyo would inevitably leave him permanently blinded was worrying. He had to ration his use of it as much as possible, use it only as an absolute last resort. He needed to postpone the loss of his eyesight. At least until he could kill Itachi.

 

UN:PoA

 

The sensation of wind blowing past his bare forehead felt strange. Naruto had worn his hitai-ate almost constantly after Iruka had given it to him. Running outside without it, he almost felt more naked than if he had been wearing nothing at all. He would have to find something to put on his forehead. Oh, what if he got one with horns like Jiraiya had! That’d be so sweet! Except instead of the word ‘oil’ on the front he would put something super cool. He didn’t know what it was gonna be yet, but he knew it was gonna be _awesome_.

He was making good time; not that he was trying that hard. He highly doubted anyone would try to track down someone they had buried. His grave had been recently dug, so no one should notice that a bit of dirt was out of place. Of course, he _had_ left his old hitai-ate there like an idiot. It had seemed like the right idea at the time. He wasn’t planning on staying in the Land of Fire, and he didn’t want anyone to start asking questions about the lone Konoha ninja wandering around. Looking back though he should have done something other than leave the thing on the ground. Maybe he should have buried it? That sounded like a symbolic type thing to do. He would have just had to think of what it symbolized later.

Naruto’s introspection was cut short however when a branch broke under his weight. “Shit!” he cursed before righting himself instinctively. Landing on the mucky soil beneath the canopy. The trees had begun to thin out a few miles back, and he had to make riskier and riskier jumps in order to stay off the forest floor. He would have to travel on the ground for now. It was a little slower, but not a big deal.

A slight growl emanated from Naruto’s stomach as he resumed his run. He hadn’t eaten anything since before he left to get Sasuke, and no one had thought to pack a bento for his trip to the grave. Slowing to a stop, Naruto rummaged around his pockets. His jacket was empty, whoever swapped his old one out having neglected to replace any gear. His pants were a similar situation. Although he hoped no one had changed those while he was unconscious.

He still had four kunai in his pouch, about a dozen shuriken, and a few yards of ninja wire. He may be hungry, alone, and penniless, but he was a ninja dang it! He would use what little gear he had to trap a mighty beast that would feed him for days! Future generations would tell the tale of Uzumaki Naruto, the great hunter!

Naruto’s stomach growled again; this time much louder. “I could really go for some ramen right about now.” He mumbled to himself as he began setting his snares.

 

UN:PoA

 

Sakura rolled around on her bed. Her parents were both out on missions for a while, so she had no reason to try to act normal today. Ino had come by earlier in the week and talked at her for a while. Saying things about how stupid they were for letting Sasuke get between them, how they were still best friends and Sakura could go to her for anything. Generic ‘I’m sorry your world fell apart’ nonsense. She had heard many such speeches since Naruto died. Various friends and family that told her to stay strong, that she could make it through this, etc. etc.

How had no-one seen what she had done? She had killed him, she had killed ‘Naruto the Hero.’ She was just as much to blame for his death as Sasuke, if not more so. She had been so stupid, so childish. All she had cared about was getting her crush back, regardless of the threat to her teammate. Her teammate that had secretly been protecting her from a threat so large that even the Fourth Hokage couldn’t destroy it.

The revelation that Naruto had been carrying the Kyuubi inside him since birth shed a new light on every interaction they shared. He had held that hidden pain with joy as he declared that he wanted to become Hokage. Saving thousands of lives every day with his mere existence wasn’t enough for him, he wanted to save even more. He held a power that could destroy entire nations and found pleasure in the simple joy of eating cheap ramen and pulling harmless pranks. If he had revealed his pedigree and duty as jinchuuriki, he would have had full grown women fawning over him. Instead, he had sent love letters to a neurotic, flat-chested idiot with a large forehead because she had been nice to him once. How had she gotten everything so _backwards?_

Sakura sat up in bed when she heard a knock at the door. This couldn’t be right. Her parents weren’t supposed to be back for days and she had made plenty of excuses to keep other guests away. Part of her didn’t want to answer the door, to pretend that she hadn’t heard anything and go back to her moping.

Another knock on the door told her that hiding wasn’t an option. With great effort she managed to pull herself out of bed and put some clothes on that looked halfway decent. Taking her time to walk down the stairs she ran her fingers through her hair. It was tangled and slightly greasy, she hadn’t showered in a day or two.

Brushing her hair with her fingers to look at least half-way presentable she opened the door. Cocking her head to the side she saw the tall lanky figure of her old sensei. “Kakashi-san?” She asked, dropping the -sensei for a -san; assuming team 7 had been dissolved after the other two thirds were dead or gone. What was Kakashi doing here? Unless he was here to give her paperwork on when she would be reassigned. Although that didn’t seem right. Why get a jounin to deliver paperwork?

Sakura frowned. There was no way she could handle being placed on another team. It felt like a betrayal to Naruto, and oddly enough to that bastard Sasuke as well. She would have to resign. She could guilt-trip Ino into giving her a job at her family’s flower shop and live out the rest of her life as a civilian. The only reason she had tried so hard to become a kunoichi to begin with was to get closer to Sasuke, and now the idea of being close to him wasn’t very appealing.

Kakashi looked Sakura up and down. She was a bit of a mess, but he had actually been expecting worse. He would still have his work cut out for him though. Squatting down to her level he placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her the most sincere eye-smile he could. Reaching into his pocket with his spare hand Kakashi pulled out a single bell and held it out for Sakura to take. Reaching her hand out she took it. “Meet me at training ground 3 tomorrow at 8AM. I won’t be late. We can talk more then,” He whispered before standing and walking away.

 

UN:PoA

 

Naruto sat back and picked the last bit of meat off the bone of his freshly cooked squirrel. He had been hoping for a rabbit or two, but this would suffice. After setting a few snares he only managed to catch a single squirrel, and the thing had thrashed around, tangling his ninja wire beyond hope. He still had about 2 yards worth of the stuff, but he would have to get to civilization soon. Although, the question remained of how he would make money once he got there.

He highly doubted that the Land of Hot Springs would accept a lone, villageless genin to contract their missions out too. Unless he got extremely lucky, there was no hope in him finding a stable living situation in Hot Springs. Even the smaller nations weren’t exactly keen on taking in and training mysterious children that refused to answer questions on why they were there. What would he say? ‘I ran away from my village because they all think I’m dead? I’m too scared to go back and let everyone know that I failed what was probably my most important mission of my life? Oh yeah, and it turns out my dad was the Fourth Hokage, and now everyone knows I have a demon inside me? A demon that would like nothing more than to be let out and eat every one of us.’ Oh yeah, that’d turn out just swell.

Throwing the last of the bones into the fire Naruto wiped the grease off his lips. Squirrel tasted fine, but he wished there was more of it. A single squirrel wasn’t exactly capable of filling him up. He was a growing boy and needed his protein. Unless ramen was an option, in which case screw protein give him those sweet, noodly carbs!

Taking his jacket off, Naruto bunched it up into a makeshift pillow and leaned back on it as the fire began to dwindle. Tomorrow was a new day, and he really hoped it would be better than the last.

 

UN:PoA

 

True to his word, Kakashi had arrived on time to the meeting spot. 8AM sharp. Strangely, at least to him, it was Sakura that was late, around 15 minutes so. Kakashi decide not to bring it up. Although, Sakura did look a little shocked when she saw that Kakashi was waiting on her.

“Good morning,” Kakashi greeted, forcing a smile on behind his mask. Sakura had made herself much more presentable compared to yesterday. “I have plenty of ideas for your training, but first I want to test your abilities and how you’ve improved since the chuunin exam.” He explained, jumping off of the post he had been waiting on. “Do you still have the bell I gave you yesterday?”

Sakura nodded and dug the little bell out of her pocket, holding it in her hand. “Kakashi-san,” Sakura paused, not sure how he would respond to her next words. “I appreciate you deciding to continue training me, but I don’t believe that will be necessary. After thinking about it more last night, I’ve decided to resign. I’ve decided that being a ninja isn’t for me.”

“No.” Kakashi said. Direct, and serious. His smile dropping. “As your jounin sensei, all resignation requests must first be approved by me before being further approved by the Hokage. I refuse your resignation.”

“What? Kakashi-san-”

“Kakashi-sensei.” The jounin corrected.

“I’m not cut out to be a ninja!” She continued, heedless of his interruption. “I’m just a genin, and I’ve already killed one teammate and driven another to treason! I’m great at paperwork, but I can’t handle being a kunoichi!”

Kakashi cocked his head to the side. It was amazing how the world appeared to revolve around you when you were younger. “Do you really believe that? That you’re the sole reason Sasuke betrayed the village, or that Naruto went after him?” He asked rhetorically. “Sasuke has been fighting his demons since his family was killed. No actions you did or didn’t take would’ve changed that. Besides ‘my teammate annoyed me’ isn’t a viable excuse for treason and murder.”

Sakura frowned at that. True, Sasuke had been fighting a losing war with his childhood since she knew him, but there was still a sliver of a chance that if she had behaved differently it would have turned out better.

“What about Naruto?” She began, deciding to drop the earlier line of reasoning, knowing she wouldn’t be able to convince Kakashi. “I begged him to bring Sasuke back, I made him _promise_ to bring Sasuke back. If I hadn’t done that, then he might still be alive. I took advantage of his feelings for me, and now he’s dead because it!”

“Do you honestly believe that Naruto wouldn’t have gone after Sasuke if he hadn’t promised to bring Sasuke back? Yes, keeping his promises was a major part of Naruto’s nindo, but he saw Sasuke as a brother; you couldn’t have stopped him from going after Sasuke if you tried.” Kakashi explained before stepping forward and placing a comforting hand on Sakura’s head. “Sakura, I’m not going to lie and pretend that you can go back to the way things were before Sasuke left. You’re a new person now, your experiences have shaped you. Every day we wake up a different person than the one we were before we went to sleep. If you truly want to honor Naruto’s memory, than take the pain you’ve felt and make it a part of you. Use it to drive yourself to be a new, better Sakura. Will you let Naruto’s death mean nothing? Just a footnote in a history book? Or will you grow, and carry his dreams for him?”

Sakura was fighting back tears, but she could feel her resolve grow to match them. Her burden was still heavy. She would bear it. She would kill her old self. The weak, lovestruck child that thought about nothing but boys and popularity. She would rise anew with the sun and face her challenges head on. To do anything less would be to disgrace Naruto’s memory. It would make Sasuke right about Konoha. It would make Sasuke right about her. Her head hurt. She had been whipping back and forth between extreme emotions since Sasuke left, and it seemed like only now was she finding a reasonable place to settle in the middle.

“So, now that you’re a new person, I think a new introduction is in order.” Kakashi took his hand off of Sakura’s head and sat cross-legged on the grass.   
“My name is Hatake Kakashi. I like many things and dislike many more, but I can’t stand those who betray their friends or themselves. My dream it to finish training my student, and protect Konoha until I am no longer needed.”

Sakura nodded at his introduction. It was much more sincere than the first time he ‘introduced’ himself. She took a deep breath. She would do it, she would rise above what Sasuke had done to her and carry on, just like Naruto would have. “My name is Haruno Sakura. I like relaxing with a book on warm summer days. I dislike traitors and being weak. My dream is to-” She paused. No, it wasn’t a dream, it was a duty. “I _will_ carry on Naruto’s dream. I _will_ become Hokage.”

Maybe ‘a reasonable place to settle in the middle’ hadn’t been completely accurate. To pick up Naruto’s torch and attempt to become Hokage was its own type of extreme, but it was one she could live with.

‘ _I won’t forget you Naruto.’_ Sakura thought to herself, _‘I still blame myself for your death, but I won’t let it be in vain. I’ll become Hokage, just like you would have if it weren’t for me. I’ll make this village a better place. A place you would have been proud to call home.’_

Kakashi smirked at her declaration. He hadn’t expected that. She was still young though, and had all the time in the world to adjust her dreams as she went. He didn’t know if she had what it took to become Hokage, but he would help her try. He clapped, standing up. “Now then, about that test. You have a bell; I want it. Your job it to keep it from me. No trick answers this time. I’m genuinely going to try and get that bell, and you’re going to try to stop that from happening. Ready? Go!”

 

UN:PoA

 

Author’s note

I feel like I should apologize. In the last chapter I had Hiashi say that he would have killed Naruto himself if he had known that it would have had this effect on Hinata. My beta said he felt Hiashi should be more conflicted, and a review said something along similar lines. I was very tired at the time and figured I had simply misjudged how my intentions would come across and decided to add in the line “He laughed softly to himself, his dark sense of humor getting the better of him.” Thinking that would clarify it. It didn’t, and probably only made things more confusing. So I have decided to remove that line and will explain further here.

Hiashi would NOT have actually killed Naruto in order to make Hinata stronger. However, he is in no way saddened at his death and sees it as a net positive. He wouldn’t have killed Naruto because it would be, frankly, stupid to commit treason and kill a leaf genin just to potentially strengthen his family’s heir. Even if he had hired an outside village to kill Naruto on a mission away, the potential threat to him and his clan would have been unacceptable. So no, Hiashi would not have killed Naruto. He’s just not upset about it. Instead focusing on how he can use his death to help push Hinata.

 

Moving on to this chapter however!

You’ll Notice that Sakura was in a rather deep funk. She’s been beating herself up relentlessly over how she asked Naruto to go after Sasuke. The whiplash of “Naruto killed Sasuke! That asshole!” to “Actually Naruto’s dead and it’s my fault” had thrown her entirely off balance. The fact that the entire village has basically began to deify Naruto isn’t helping either. You know those people that worry and worry and work themselves into a lather? That’s Sakura. However, now that she’s out of that cycle, she’ll be better. I should also address some of the things she thought. No, if Naruto had somehow figured out his parentage and revealed he was the son of the Fourth Hokage, odds are he would not have had grown women going after him. Sakura is just beating herself up and having a pity party.

Some reviewers have started asking about pairings. I’m not going to lie, I haven’t put a lot of thought into pairings. Once the people of Konoha learn that Naruto is still alive (which is WAY down the line.) I expect Sakura and Hinata to have a bit of a tiff over who gets “dibs” on Naruto.That is unless someone else steals his heart while he’s away~

Some have complained that Naruto leaving is illogical, you’re right. Naruto is basically in denial and operating on pure instinct. His entire world has been turned on its head and he’s scared, and what’s the first thing you think of when you’re scared? “Run away!” Just like a kid that tries to run away from home, Naruto put no thought into what he would do once he actually, y’know, LEFT. He thinks he can’t go back. Now he has to deal with his questionable choices.

My beta asked how Sasuke already knew so much about the Mangekyo, so I figured I would preemptively explain here for others that are also confused. I'm making it so that once someone activates the mangekyo, they have an instinctual understanding of it. I figured it would make sense for that to be the case considering everyone with the mangekyo has different abilities. For example: canonically speaking Itachi can use Tsukuyomi, but Sasuke can't. Even though they both had the mangekyo. The only reasonable way that I can imagine any Mangekyo users know about their apparently randomized powers is if the knowledge comes inherent with the Mangekyo’s awakening. I'm just fudging canon a bit and saying that knowledge about the fact that use of the Mangekyo will deteriorate one’s eyesight is instinctual as well.

Others have asked why Naruto didn’t henge in order to check out what was going on in Konoha. Guys, Konoha is probably the most heavily fortified area in all of the Land of Fire. Do you really think a genin’s henge would be enough to trick an entire population of ninjas? Henge may be useful for tricking civilians or infiltrating bandit camps, but not much beyond that. Tsunade has an apparently unique form of henge that she can maintain “without exerting any effort, even while injured or asleep” according to the wiki. However, Naruto only knows the basic academy version. Something that requires chakra usage and could therefore be felt by any ninja worth his salt. If a guard noticed a henged individual trying to sneak into a what is essentially a military base, it’s gonna cause some problems. Naruto is brash, thickheaded, and runs on instinct more often than not, but he’s not stupid.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Shall Not Be Infringed

 

Greedily inhaling the oxygen from the mask held in front of him by Kabuto, Orochimaru gasped in pain. He had waited until the last possible moment to switch bodies, hoping that Sasuke would arrive before his previous body expired. Alas, the boy had come too late. This transfer was the worst one he’d gone through yet. Whether that was because of his arms, or because he had waited too long to perform the transplant was unknown.

His predicament after Hiruzen sealed the “soul” of his arms into the Shinigami was fascinating. His arms had begun to rot after the sealing, as though they had a mind of their own and simply lost the will to live. His heart beat, but the blood in his arms simply refused to function. No matter how much he had increased his circulation through the use of various drugs, his arms continued to decay. Even with the aid of his ever-faithful Kabuto, the progression had refused to waver.

The stench and disability had been manageable. However, the constant infections had worried him. He had taken the strongest antibiotics available, but they could only do so much when your cardiovascular system was directly attached to rotting, necrotic tissue. Kabuto had informed him that the infection had reached his heart, and had begun to spread to his brain as well. If he didn’t switch bodies when he did, he would have died. He didn’t plan on dying, ever.

Orochimaru leaned back from the mask that was held to his face and looked down at the pale skin of his arms. His current body was taken from an Oto chuunin that had been quite a specimen. She had dedicated herself fully to the art of taijutsu, spending little effort to work and grow her chakra network. This made it exceptionally easy for him to uproot her soul, and supplant it with his own. It also meant that the usual physical augmentations he applied to his hosts had been even more effective than usual. He would need all the help he could get in the physical aspects of being a ninja, particularly with the use of his ninjutsu hampered as it was.

He was capable of moving his arms again, yet there was no sensation. No, that wasn’t true, he could feel them move, but he couldn’t connect the sensation to any form of context in his mind. It was a bizarre form of synesthesia that he had never experienced before. He could tell by his charts that for all intents and purposes he was now a perfectly healthy 23 year old woman. Yet when it came to moving his arms it felt like he was swimming in some kind of thick syrup. The movement was entirely conscious, there was no  _instinct_ behind his actions.

“Status report.” Orochimaru whispered with a hoarse voice towards his assistant.

“Sasuke arrived at Otogakure while you were mid-transfer.” Kabuto began, “I diverted his escort to base 33 and ordered them to treat him as an S-class guest until such a time that you could collect him personally. Yesterday’s report says he is growing restless. You were unconscious for over 5 days Orochimaru-sama.” Kabuto took a breath before continuing. “Several of our double agents inside Jiraiya’s spy network have gone missing, while the ones that still manage to report to us are sending in contradictory and nebulous information. We are unaware if they are compromised as well, or if Jiraiya is feeding false information to all his agents as chaff in an attempt to disorient the entire system.”

Kabuto paused after his report. “There was also a bit of information I picked up when conversing with Uchiha-san’s escort. Although, it may be inaccurate.”  
“Continue,” The Snake Sannin spoke.

“It appears as though Sasuke has awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan.”

Orochimaru stood quickly, fumbling a little. He wasn’t used to having breasts, he would have to have them removed later.

“Orochimaru-sama!” Kabuto interrupted. “Please, remain seated! Your soul has only just taken hold inside your host, you are still weak!”

“I’m strong enough to greet my new pupil, Kabu-” Orochimaru began, before a rush of vertigo overtook him and he stumbled forward. He tried to bring his hands up to catch his fall, but they didn’t react and he landed flat on his face.

“Orochimaru-sama!” Kabuto shouted before turning to a nearby guard. “Bring me a syringe of norepinephrine now!”

“That won’t be necessary, Kabuto.” Orochimaru spoke calmly into the tile floor. Finally, after making the conscious effort of which individual muscles to tense and relax in his arms, he managed to push himself off the floor. “I am merely still getting used to this body. There is no need to worry.”

Getting to his feet Orochimaru sighed, looking down at his breasts. “Although perhaps you are right, and one more day of rest won’t hurt. Prepare the operating room. I wish to be rid of these fatty lumps.”

 

UN:PoA

 

Naruto tried to look inconspicuous as he explored. He had managed to find a small port town just on the inside of the border of Hot Springs after another day and a half of travel. It was large enough that there was a chance that he could find some work, but small and out of the way enough that the odds of running into a Konoha-nin was unlikely.

The town’s name was Shiokiri, and it appeared as though it’s primary purpose was as a sort of transport hub between the lands of Fire, Lightning, and Water. Particularly for purposes of trading mainland goods for the various fish that inhabited the reefs of the Land of Water. Watching the dockworkers go about their business was rather fascinating actually. Naruto had never known that tuna were that large. He only ever got the cheap cans that he liked to mix into his ramen when he wanted to feel fancy. The smell of seawater and fish filled the dense fog that covered the town as Naruto watched the dockworkers move crates of goods about.

“Hey, kid!” A voice shouted from nearby, startling Naruto with how he hadn’t managed to notice the burly man that was walking towards him. He was just under 6 feet tall and had a gut that would put Tsunade’s bosom to shame. It looked like all the hair on his head had decided to migrate down to his chin. Leaving a shiny scalp with a greasy, wiry beard. “You lost or something? Where are you parents?”

A concerned adult? Naruto could use this.

“They’re dead, sir.” Naruto said, playing up the sadness just enough to make the man pity him, but not enough that he felt like an asshole for doing it. The best kinds of lies were the ones that were half-true. He still wasn’t sure how he felt about suddenly knowing his father was the Fourth Hokage, but it wasn’t exactly like the revelation made him any less of an orphan. “I came into town looking for work. My last job... fell through, and I figured there might be something available here. I know some basic ninja skills and I can work longer hours than you’d think. Do you know of anything available? Please sir, I need the money.”

“Your last job ‘fell through,’  _and_ you know ninja skills?” The man stood taller, sucking his gut in slightly and looking at Naruto incredulously. “You’re not a missing-nin are you? I won’t turn you in, but I don’t want no trouble with the law neither.”

Naruto shook his head. “No I was-” _‘assumed dead and buried alive’_ “discharged for medical reasons.” Or at least he _thought_ he was assumed dead. That or someone tried to kill him for not bringing Sasuke back. He didn’t think the second option was very likely, however waking up in a casket had this funny side-effect of making him slightly more paranoid.

“Oh?” The man spoke, softening his voice slightly. “What hidden-village were you a part of then, boy?”

Naruto tried not to frown. He hadn’t expected to be grilled like this. He should have spent some time preparing a new persona or something. As it was, he was just bluffing and hoping for the best. “I was an Oto-nin, sir.” He said. He couldn't say he was from Konoha. That would be idiotic, and he didn’t know enough about the hidden-village in Hot Springs to be able to act as though he had been a ninja there. Otogakure was a newer village, and therefor shrouded in mystery. He didn’t know much about how it functioned, and was hoping that this man didn’t either.

The man scrunched his face, as though he had just smelled something nasty. “Otogakure? Aren’t those the fuckers that attacked Konoha? I get a lotta business from Fire, and I don’t want no Fire merchant jipping me on prices because he found out I hired someone from Oto.”

_Shit_ , Hot Springs and Fire were allied, he should have known that calling himself an Oto-nin would have looked bad. “I wasn’t a part of their nin-corp during that sir. I had nothing to do with it. Besides, I told you I’m not an active Oto-nin, and no one will recognize me as one so long as you don’t tell them. I won’t cause any trouble with anyone from the Land of Fire. I just need a job.” Naruto flashed a smile and held his hands up in a mock surrender pose. Trying to appear as non-threatening as possible.

A twinkle of sadness entered the man’s eyes as he looked at what he assumed was another forgotten dredge of a war-torn world. In a way, he was right. “What’s your name, boy?” He asked.

_‘You didn’t think of a name!?’_ Naruto internally screamed. _‘How the_ _ fuck _ _did you not think of a name!?’_ “Uzumaki Haku, sir.” Naruto said, silently praying that Haku wouldn’t haunt him for stealing his name.

“Haku? Ain’t that a girl’s name?”

“It’s complicated.”

The man scratched his beard and nodded. “Name’s Tamamono Hige. Guess I’m your boss now. Get to work moving those crates from dock 13 into warehouse 11, and I’ll watch you. None of that ninja magic though. I don’t need you drawing attention. I’ll pay you whatever I think you’re worth at the end of the day, understood?”

Naruto breathed out a sigh of relief. He hoped it looked like he was happy for a job and not that he was happy he didn’t just blow his identity to the first person he’d talked to since leaving Konoha. With a big smile and a thumbs-up Naruto looked at his new boss.

“Yes sir, Hige-san! I’m on it!”

 

UN:PoA

 

Kurenai had chosen to ease back into training with her team after Naruto’s death. Kiba had been suitably shaken to learn that Naruto was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, claiming he would have ‘helped carry the burden’ had he known Naruto had ‘such a badass duty.’ He somehow managed to straddle the line between celebrating the death of the Kyuubi, and mourning Naruto’s death without overly offending either side.

Shino was as stoic as ever. Not mentioning Naruto unless he had already been brought up in a conversation. Although, he now exclusively referred to him as ‘Naruto the Hero’ like many others had begun to do as well. He didn’t show it outwardly, but Kurenai knew the similarities between Naruto being a Jinchuuriki and the Aburame clan’s use of their kikaichu had struck a chord with him.

They were both shaken, of course, but they would manage. Kids were resilient like that, especially when they’re also trained killers.

Hinata though... After seeing her breakdown at the sight of Naruto’s body Kurenai had expected the already fragile Hyuuga to become a puddle of anxiety and tears. Hinata never spoke much with the rest of her team, but when she did speak it was almost always about Naruto. The girl’s infatuation with the boy had been obvious. In fact, it was a testament to Naruto’s stunted social skills that he had never figured it out for himself.

Instead of showing up to their meeting a sobbing mess however, Hinata had walked in tall, head held high with a broad smile, and covered in bruises. She knew it wasn’t her place to interfere with clan politics, but the sight of the dark purple welts that littered Hinata’s ivory skin was enough to make Kurenai see red. She kept up the charade as long as she could, told them all that she was planning on slowly increasing their training due to ‘recent events.’ She came up with an exercise for Kiba and Shino to practice. It was essentially a glorified game of tag that would have them running about in the woods far from her and Hinata.

Once they were out of sight Kurenai whirled on Hinata and got to her knees. “Hinata-chan,” She began, quickly pulling the girl into a brief hug before holding her back to look her in the eyes. Gently taking one of her arms, Kurenai pulled back on Hinata’s sleeve, revealing more bruising. “Your father, did he do this to you? He’s gone too far Hinata, we can petition the Hokage, we can-”

“He didn’t hurt me, Kurenai-sensei.” Hinata answered quickly, her usual stutter was gone. “I’ve been sparring with several chuunin and jounin of the branch-house.” She explained, as though she had just won the lottery.

“Jounin?” Kurenai asked, “Hinata, you’re still a genin! You should be training with your peers or learning from your sensei. I gave you and the rest of your team specific instructions to rest during your break, not pick fights you can’t win.”  
“I need to get stronger.” Hinata justified, pointedly avoiding eye contact with her sensei.

“Everyone does.” Kurenai shook her head. “That doesn’t justify getting yourself hurt like this. There are safer ways to train.”

“I don’t have time to waste, I need to hurry.” Hinata tried to deflect.

“Hinata-chan, you’re barely 13.” Kurenai explained. “You have plenty of time to get stronger.”

A long pause filled the air. Hinata’s excuses had been thin and flimsy and they both knew it. Kurenai waited for the next excuse, when one didn’t come she made to continue, but Hinata spoke first.

“I never told him I loved him,” Hinata whispered, tears welling in her lilac eyes. Her smile dropping as they threatened to spill over.

“What?”

“I… I never told him I loved him. N-naruto-kun died. Alone. Thinking no one cared for him. Thinking no one loved him. I loved him. I should have told him. I should have been there for him, but I was scared. I don’t even know what I was scared of, but I was scared. So, I let him suffer. I let him wallow in loneliness because I was too much of a coward to tell him I loved him. Even if he didn’t love me back, I could have been his friend. I could have been _something_.” Hinata’s whole body shook. Tears fell down her cheeks; no matter how hard she tried to stop them from coming. Her words slurred together as she spoke. “Naruto suffered, every day to protect me and the rest of the village from the Kyuubi. He died, cold and alone, never knowing what it feels like to be loved and it’s _my fault_!” 

Hinata collapsed into her sensei’s arms, finally surrendering to the emotions she had been suppressing. She had tried. She had tried to put on a brave face, just like Naruto would have. She had tried so very hard, but she wasn’t Naruto. She would never be Naruto.

Kurenai held the sobbing girl in her arms, looking out into the treeline she saw Kiba and Shino watching. Kurenai shook her head subtly, and they nodded back, returning home for the rest of the day.

“I never even got to see his grave...” Hinata whispered.

“The renovations on the Namikaze estate finish today,” Kurenai whispered soothingly as she rubbed Hinata’s back. “We could go visit Naruto tomorrow if you want, and you can tell him that you loved him.”

“… I think I’d like that, sensei.”

 

UN:PoA

 

Author’s Notes

Oof, lot of emotion in that last segment. I hope I wrote it well. I didn’t want it to be too long, or too short. Hinata has a lot of baggage, and I don’t want to unpack it, just air it out a little.

 

I have gotten further questions about why Naruto didn’t use a henge to sneak into Konoha, so I will talk more about it here and then I’m dropping the issue.

1) Henge is classified as an E-class ninjutsu, NOT a genjutsu. It is a physical transformation technique, NOT an illusion. In chapter 75 Naruto uses a NORMAL HENGE to transform into Akamaru and bite Kiba. No one freaks out about this, it’s perfectly normal.

2) Sasuke was able to tell that Naruto had henged into a fuma shuriken during the Wave Arc, and he was just a genin. This was mid-combat with two upper-level jounin throwing ninjutsu back and forth. Henges can be detected if you’re perceptive enough, and military guards would be.

3) As I stated in chapter 1 of this fic, Naruto was buried OUTSIDE the village walls, and would have had to single-handedly infiltrate a village full of ninja to gather intel or to retrieve supplies; a village that just had the “Last Uchiha” go rogue for Orochimaru, the leader of a known terrorist-state. They would be on high alert, and would have caught Naruto instantly.

I’m not a wise sage of all things Naruto. There _will_ be mistakes in this fic. I just don’t think this is one of them. If you still disagree with my logic then just categorize this under “The author is fudging canon for his fic.”


End file.
